Article and photos used with permission from The Decatur Daily, Decatur, AL
Published March 1, 2009

Lil’ Hill Farm produces goat kids in quads

By Ronnie Thomas
Staff Writer

MOULTON — Sandie Terry’s Nigerian Dwarf goats aren’t kidding around.

Buttin’ Heads Too Contredanse and Kids Corral PT Lyric each delivered quadruplets over three days during the winter/spring kidding season here at Lil’ Hill Farm.

Buttin’ Heads’ two bucklings and two doelings arrived Feb. 5, and PT Lyric delivered three doelings and a buckling Feb. 7.

Other does presented Terry a single buckling Feb. 6 and a set of twins Feb. 10.

“It’s turning out to be quite a season,” said Terry. “And we have more on the way.”

Remarkable season

Terry said she understands that the goats, a miniature dairy breed of West African origin, can have up to six babies in a litter, but it’s remarkable that her quads came so close together.

Terry recalls that the first baby goat born at her farm came April 11, 2006, at 11 p.m., and that Malady had a rough time delivering Prince Andrew, who now lives in Tuscaloosa.

“I didn’t have to assist either set of the quads,” she said. “I just sat back and watched, and then I helped the mom clean them up. All of the kids so far this year came in the early afternoon, and I loved that.”

Terry said the most remarkable of the quads’ arrivals occurred with the second set and the lone buckling she called Rocket Man.

“He shot out so fast,” she said. “But what had happened, he and a sister came out together in the same sac. They were the last two born. I thought it was one until I broke the sac to get the baby out and started counting feet.”

And Rocket Man is now Pocket Rocket because he was the smallest of the eight quads at birth, weighing 1 pound, 5 1/2 ounces.

Terry said she hand-breeds her goats, walking the doe over to the buck or vice versa. She has three bucks and plans to maintain 12 breeding does. She said the gestation period for the goats is 145 days.

Terry said people purchase her goats for one of three reasons — for the milk, for breeding or as pets.

Popular pets

Brenda Naylor of Trinity and her friend, Phillip Eubanks, already have seven of the dwarf goats they keep as pets. And they just bought Pocket Rocket, another buck who is unrelated, and a doe, Pocket Rocket’s sister.

“We won’t pick them up until they’re 8 weeks old and have been weaned,” Naylor said. “We’re crazy about them because they’re a hoot.”

Naylor said the couple might eventually raise Nigerian Dwarfs for sale but are undecided. She doesn’t milk them, either.

“I’m not sure about that,” she said. “I’ve never even milked a cow. But that’s a possibility. I’ve just got to learn how.”

Change in habit

Terry has milked her goats in the past, but only for freezing and feeding to the babies. She said that will change, partly because of the economy.

“I also will begin milking for us, for me and my husband, Bruce,” she said. “And I’m going to start making cheese for us, something I’ve never done.”

The Terrys for years have grown their vegetables, which she cans and freezes. They’re finishing a chicken house, which they’ll use to raise Buff Orpington chickens for the fresh eggs and meat.

Food supply

“A friend at a farm in Hance­ville, who raises Nigerian Dwarfs, is going to hatch the chickens for us,” she said.

Terry said many of her customers are buying animals to milk and make cheeses and soaps for personal use.

“The economy is pushing a lot of people back to the basics,” she said. “In essence, we just about have our own food supply here at home.”

And goat meat for a meal?

“We don’t eat goat,” Terry said. “A customer brought me two pounds and said I ought to try it. So I made chili. I took a bite and it didn’t taste good. Maybe it was psychological, but no amount of spices could mask that that was goat meat.”

Article reprinted with permission.

 

All photos by Gary Cosby, Jr. and used with permission